Previous excavations at Chotuna-Chornancap by Peruvian archaeologist Carlos Wester La Torre, who led the team that found the purported sacrificer, revealed a temple containing the remains of several women who were mutilated as part of human-sacrifice rituals.

Wester and other Peruvian archaeologists have suggested that the rulers of Chotuna-Chornancap may have claimed to be the descendants of Naylamp, a god-like figure from the sea that legend says founded the Sicán culture.

The new tomb discovery was made during excavations of a section of Chotuna-Chornancap that was used to perform crop-fertility rituals, according to the team.

The skeleton belonged to a male between 20 and 30 years old, and that the tomb was built sometime in the late 1200s or early 1300s A.D., toward the end of the Sicán period, they say.

The cause of death of the tomb's inhabitant is unknown, but based on the kind and quantity of artifacts buried with him—including ceramic pots, a skirt made of copper disks, and ornate copper knives—the team thinks he was a member of the Sicán elite and possibly performed ritual human offerings by order of a priest.

Wester speculated that a sacrificer was more than just a simple executioner. He would have been entrusted with other responsibilities related to the ceremonies surrounding the sacrifices, the archaeologist added.

Ceramic and metal objects were also found near the tomb—possibly left as offerings to the dead sacrificer, or they may be evidence of another tomb, said Wester, director of the Brüning National Archaeological Museum in the city of Lambayeque.